


It's A Ritual Sacrifice, With Pie

by Signe_chan, Trojie



Series: Housemates-verse [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Crack, Domestic, Fluff, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-15
Updated: 2013-02-15
Packaged: 2017-11-29 10:21:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,254
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/685851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Signe_chan/pseuds/Signe_chan, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trojie/pseuds/Trojie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Dean, Sam, Garth and Charlie share a house and an X-box, the failure of the Apocalypse is celebrated, Cas eats pie, Kevin has a secret girlfriend and Mrs Tran and Benny save the meal (and therefore the day).</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's A Ritual Sacrifice, With Pie

**Author's Note:**

> This fic goes AU from S08E11 "LARP and the Real Girl". The title is a quote from Anya in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Dean opened the fridge, peered into it, and closed it again. He wasn’t sure what the issue was.  


'The place is clean enough, isn't it?' he asked. 'It's not like we're having a society ball, dude. It's just Kevin. He used to live in Garth's shitty-ass houseboat, for Christ's sake.'

'Um, A) this was your idea not his, and B) I think the fridge is possessed,' said Charlie from behind him. He turned in time to see her putting her hands on her hips. 'Either that or that weird egg-burger thing you brought home two weeks ago has developed sentience. We are not putting a turkey in that fridge.'

'I'm pretty sure the traditional Apocalypsemas food is bacon cheeseburgers with a side of demon blood,' joked Dean - just as Sam walked in.

Five years had passed and it was still probably too soon for that line. It would probably always be too soon for that line. Sam walked out again without saying a word.

'And stop being a dick to your brother,' Charlie added exasperatedly. Dean wished they'd never started this whole goddamn 'Yay, the world didn't end!' party thing. Digging up the past? Not traditionally a great Winchester hobby.

'I wasn't - fine,' Dean growled. 'Are we done here?' He turned away, meaning to chase after Sam before the guy worked himself up into a major league mope.

'The fridge will be waiting for you when you get back!' she called after him. 'Dean?'

'Yeah, yeah!' he yelled back.

When he got through to the study Sam was already gone. Probably up to his room to be alone. He did that sometimes, now.

Garth was lying on the couch, a broom dropped carelessly near him. He glanced over to meet Dean’s eye and shrugged as if to say ‘not my problem’.

‘Are you even cleaning?’ Dean asked, kicking at the broom. Garth gave another lazy shrug.

‘In some senses of the word, maybe,’ he said.

‘Yeah, well move it,’ Dean growled. He had to admit he was kind of done with the cleaning but it still pissed him off to see Garth lying there when he’d been working. ‘The wards could use renewing.’

‘Probably a good plan,’ Garth agreed, rolling off the couch. ‘I mean, any other time I’d probably think you were paranoid but with the luck you and Sam have, this party is probably going to be pretty memorable even without any unwelcome guests crashing.’

Dean snorted his agreement and stood aside to let Garth past. The study was the kind of mess it always was. Three hunters and a geek living in one place - they’d never really stood a chance. The D&D books were stacked in among the arcane literature and Charlie needed to stop using their actual texts for her games, or at least start inviting him or something. Though that had never seemed to work well in the past.

Sam had probably gone upstairs. He’d probably have his door shut and Dean had to respect that, apparently. It was a house rule or something. One of Charlie’s house rules anyway. Given she was the only one who really had any experience living in a house, they tended to do what she said about stuff like this.

Speaking of, the door to the kitchen opened again and Charlie came through, holding a carton out in front of her like she was actually afraid of the contents.

Dean toyed with either running from Charlie and the unexploded carton and going after Sam or dealing with whatever unreasonable complaints people had about his diet and _then_ going after Sam. There weren't any good options, unfortunately, and he didn't make his decision quickly enough - and Charlie pounced.

'You are the worst handmaiden ever,' she informed him, and handed over the carton before he could make an escape. 'That needs to go outside. Exorcise it, bury it, build it a hutch, I don't care. I can't even work out if it's alive, dead, or undead.'

Most families, as far as Dean could work out, had a patch out the back of the house where the pets got buried. This house had a patch at the back where the inconvenient bodies, Dean's leftovers, and Garth's experiments in cooking that never succeeded enough to even _become_ leftovers got buried. Eyeing the carton, Dean made his decision. 'I'll get the shovel,' Dean said, giving in. 'And I'm the best handmaiden you've ever had. I'm awesome.'

'Whatever,' Charlie said.

Something in the carton made it shake in Dean's grip. Suddenly the shovel got moved considerably up his list of priorities.

***

By the time Dean finally managed to bury the weird shivering container of previously-burger-thing, wash his hands, wash his hands again after Garth said he could still smell the corruption of Hades, and dodge a falling can of spraypaint, Sam was back out in the nearly-finished extension he was building out behind Bobby's old, fire-damaged, house, doing something to the wiring.

'Hey, man,' said Dean, perching on a saw-horse. Sam's hunched shoulders weren't giving him much to work with. 'Sorry about that, before.'

Dean still hated chick-flick moments. But given that long experience had taught him that avoiding them tended to end in, well, the end of the world, he now preferred to just get them over with.

'It's okay,' Sam said, without turning around. He fiddled with the chuck-key of an electric drill the same way he used to pretend to type on his laptop rather than make eye-contact. 'You guys wanna have a party, I get it. I do. I just … I'd rather have some space this week, that's all.'

Dean didn't say anything. Sam eventually turned around, and shrugged. 'I get that this is the anniversary of how the Apocalypse didn't happen after all, and that's definitely something to celebrate,' he said. 'But it's still also the anniversary of stuff I would really rather not remember doing, dude. And I'd appreciate it if everyone just backed off.'

'You are gonna eat dinner with us though, right?' Dean asked, leaving the rest of it alone. They'd had the 'woe is me, I'm the cause of all the world's pain' talk a million times before. If Sam wanted to hide, that was Sam's prerogative. Dean just needed to make sure the dude ate and kept the angsting to a minimum over the holiday period.

Sam looked mildly relieved. 'Yeah, Dean, I'll be out for dinner. I'm not a hermit.'

'Good. Kevin's due to turn up sometime tomorrow, too. We were thinking of going out, if you wanna come along?'

‘Yeah,’ Sam replied, finally smiling. ‘It feels weird to say it but I’ve really missed him being around. I know he’s better at college, getting a real life and all, but I miss talking to him.’

‘You two did spend a lot of time together,’ Dean agreed. Time was it was strange not to see the two of them bent over some book together either working on a case or trying to study to get Kevin in to college. ‘Come on, let’s go in. Her Highness is probably looking for us by now and Garth was trying to fix the wards, so that’s always good for a laugh.’

‘Sure,’ Sam said, standing and stretching. Dean wasn’t naive enough to think that was the situation over with, since when had things ever been that easy, but at least they’d kind of talked instead of ignoring it. Charlie would be proud, not that he intended to tell her.

They headed in and sure enough Charlie looked a little like she was out for blood. The contents of the fridge were lying across the floor where she’d been cleaning it out and, well, Dean was sure they’d got rid of some of that already. They should definitely have gotten rid of some of those takeout containers. They still tended to fall back on that as the default meal, so there were a lot of them.

‘You two,’ she said, accusingly, as if she didn’t eat pizza and Chinese with the rest of them. ‘This is just disgusting. I haven’t lived in a place this bad since college.’

‘Just trying to make it homely for Kevin,’ Dean replied, picking his way across the floor. Garth was balanced on the counter by the window, spray paint in hand, eyeing the sigil painted up there. ‘I think that needs a bit more emphasis on the left’.

‘Sure,’ Garth agreed easily, spraying the line. Dean nodded his approval. Sam came further into the room, pushing some of the containers with the toe of his boot like he was afraid they might bite him.

‘You know,’ Charlie said, falling to sit on the floor next to the still open fridge. ‘You could help out a little. This is your party, after all. I’m just along for the ride.’

‘It was Garth’s idea,' Dean protested, gesturing at him.

‘You liked the idea, though,’ Charlie said, as though he’d agreed to the party as a personal attack on her. She’s been all for it until she realised it would mean cleaning.

Alright, maybe the cleaning had been his plan initially, though it was possible he’d underestimated how much work it was going to be. It wasn’t like he really had a frame of reference for this. They’d never really tried a ‘get the entire family together’ thing before. They’d happened, kind of, but always by accident. It felt like this should be something more. Something special.

Dean wasn't sure when he'd started thinking of this mess of a household as his 'family', but he wasn't gonna question it. Some days he still wasn't sure this was real - still standing, still breathing, Sam still alive and sane next to him. Three people they cared about - Garth, Charlie, Kevin - also still alive. And they were still getting on with the family business, in between fixing the odd car.

Five years ago, he'd thought the best case scenario was that he'd maybe live long enough to see his brother take a swan dive, and then he'd probably swallow his own gun. What he really thought was gonna happen was that the world was gonna end bloody and burnt. But Sammy did it, and they'd made it through. If anything in the world had ever been worth celebrating, as far as Dean was concerned, it was that.

He was gonna make Sam enjoy their new tradition or bust. Unfortunately, that was gonna mean cleaning out the rancid fridge first.

Footsteps sounded outside the kitchen door and then a familiar voice said, 'Jeez. What in hell happened in here?'

'Kevin?'

Dean got a second to look at Kevin, who was looking decidedly less scruffy than he had when he’d lived with them full time, before Charlie put herself in the way. He couldn’t help but laugh a little as Kevin instinctively stepped back to avoid the hug. Charlie had clearly been living with them all too long though as she anticipated the move and caught him anyway.

‘Kevin, my man,’ Garth shouted. ‘We weren’t expecting you yet!’

‘So you decided to destroy the house?’ Kevin asked, shoving Charlie away. Sam chuckled and stepped up in her place, gripping Kevin’s hand in a manly handshake. Dean knew that gesture, it was an ‘I want to hug you but I don’t think it’d go down well’ move. He’d used it a few times himself and Kevin seemed to appreciate it, freeing his hand and stepping into the room.

‘You’re not skipping classes, are you?’ Dean asked, pushing off the counter and coming round to shake Kevin’s hand himself. Kevin just rolled his eyes, clasping Dean’s hand tight and then pulling away again.

‘Skipping a few classes won’t hurt,’ Garth commented, stepping around Dean and yanking Kevin into another hug. Kevin shoved him away again, frowning.

‘I’m not skipping. We had a workshop cancelled so I came over early.’

'We were just cleaning up,' Charlie said, gesturing a little helplessly at the state of the kitchen.

'I can see,' said Kevin. He must have learnt the 'disapproving parent' look off his Mom because he sure as hell didn't learn it off anyone in the house. 'Did you run out of cases or something?'

'Nah, got a rakshasa thing to look into later tonight,' Garth said, shrugging. 'Don't think we'll ever run out of cases, not now we're making some headway in getting everyone organised.'

'A rakshasa?' Sam said, looking concerned. 'Shouldn't we be getting onto that?'

'If people are dying, the fridge can totally wait,' Charlie added. 'Plus I just got the omen database cross-referencing with the 'disgusting homicide' database and it could use a stress-test.'

Without anyone really noticing how, they'd all started moving towards the study. 'I'll get the car prepped,' Dean said, anticipating getting on the road with his brother and shaking off some of this gloom. 'Anyone remember what we need to gank this thing?'

Kevin was still standing in the middle of the kitchen disaster area. 'I guess I can finish the fridge, then,' he said, sounding a little off about it. Cleaning the fridge was probably beneath a Prophet of the Lord. And probably wouldn't make it into the eventual Gospel of Kevin, whenever Kevin finally got round to writing the damn thing.

Garth winked at him. 'The monster of the day is out in Arizona, guys. I've got another team on it. We just gotta do the database-search and send out their cover story. I thought we had a party to plan? Plus,' he added, as if he'd just thought of it, 'I already started inviting guests. Y'know. Angels of the Lord, reformed vampires, all the A-listers.'

That got everyone’s attention, stopping the slow migration out of the room. Dean hadn’t really thought about specifically inviting guests who didn’t live here at least part of the time. He’d kind of figured Cas might show at some point, he tended to just come and go at he wanted, but other guests?

‘Reformed vampires?’ Sam asked, disgust evident in his voice. ‘Seriously?’

‘Sure,’ Garth said with a shrug, as though he were completely oblivious to the fact that Sam and Benny, not exactly best friends.

‘Just drop it, Sam,’ Dean said, scooping down to pick up a takeaway carton. He peeled it open and then closed it again before the fungus could escape. ‘So, Cas and Benny, right? You invite anyone else to this shindig?’

‘Not yet,’ Garth replied, though he didn’t meet Dean’s eyes as he said it. ‘Anyone else you can think of who should come? I mean, anyone from back in the day?’

‘Not really,’ Dean said. He did in fact know exactly who should be here celebrating this with them. The problem was everyone on that list was dead, other than the people who were already invited. He guessed maybe Chuck, but nobody had heard from him since before the end and the entire new prophet thing didn’t bode well for him. If he was still alive the guy was probably better off out of it all, it wasn’t like they’d ever been party buddies anyway.

The kitchen had kind of grown an awkward silence. Sam was looking pensive again like he was thinking of the ways he was responsible for every one of those deaths.

‘Well,’ Dean said, striding over and dropping the takeaway can in the bin as though he could physically shake off the mood. ‘If we’re having guests we really need to clean. We’re gonna have to make sure we’ve got places for people to sleep, too.’

‘I’m sure you can find somewhere for Cas to sleep,’ Charlie shot back with a grin and, yeah, he’d kind of left himself wide open for that one.

'It's not like the dude really sleeps,' Sam pointed out, clearly trying to help.

Charlie grinned even wider and Dean wished Sam was close enough that Dean could tread heavily on his foot to get him to shut. The hell. Up.

'So, I'll go get the mop,' Kevin said, breaking in with a typically actually-helpful contribution. God, Dean missed that kid when he was away. 'We probably don't need a committee to do the fridge, just someone with an iron stomach -'

'- I nominate Dean,' Charlie said immediately.

'- and do we still have a guest bedroom or did Sam turn it into another armoury?' Kevin finished, raising an eyebrow.

'That was _one time_ ,' Sam protested, 'And it was a linen closet. And that was legit. You weren't here when we had the zombie thing going on, you don't know.'

'Sam's got a point,' Dean agreed. 'And yeah, we've got a spare bedroom upstairs still. And the couch.'

'I really do need to stress-test that database cross-check thing,' Charlie said, fidgeting. 'And I already cleaned the bathroom and that was no picnic, believe me.'

Kevin looked around at the fridge battlefield. 'I really do,' he said.

‘Fine, whatever,’ Dean said with a sigh, grabbing another carton. ‘We’ve faced down worse things than this fridge without breaking a sweat.’

‘You mean you,' Sam said, already edging towards the door. ‘If someone’s going to actually _use_ the guest room I should probably, you know, do a few jobs up there.’

‘Those jobs had better not include setting up a beheading mechanism or some shit,’ Dean growled, but Sam was already out of the door. Charlie ducked out after him and Garth got up to follow, saying something about providing data for Charlie to work with.

Dean looked over at the fridge, still open and empty, and down at the floor littered with cartons and boxes and, yeah, he probably shouldn’t just throw the entire lot in the garbage and have done with it but the urge was there.

Kevin was still standing there too, looking down at it as though he was genuinely afraid he was going to have to clean it all. Dean sighed and waved him away.

‘Get out of here kid, not your mess this time.’

‘Thanks,’ Kevin said, backing away quickly. ‘Though, maybe I could keep you company while you clean?’

‘Sure,’ Dean said with a nod, dropping down onto the floor and starting to sort through the cartons. Most of them could be sorted pretty quickly by smell and, well, maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing they’d been forced to clean out the fridge because he was pretty sure even experienced hunters wouldn’t have been able to cope with some of this stuff if it’d been left much longer. ‘Please tell me you’ve got some good college stories to distract me from this, I don’t even know what some of these things are!’

‘Oh, that one’s quinoa,’ Kevin supplied. ‘It’s kind of meant to look like that. It’s good for you.’

Dean looked down into the container again suspiciously and then decided he’d rather not take the risk and added it to the food to be thrown away. Mould, health food, how the hell was he meant to tell the difference?

‘I’m kind of more interested in what’s been going on here,’ Kevin said with a shrug. ‘Like, why are you guys even having a party?’

‘You’re having a party too,’ Dean said. ‘You have a bedroom, you’re part of this. It was Garth’s thing anyway. You know how he is, decided we needed a party and somehow it turned into Thanksgiving only with a theme for what we’re thankful for.’

‘And you just went along with it?’ Kevin asked and, alright, Dean might have been against the idea of a party in the past. Things were different now, though. And it wasn’t like they were inviting the entire hunting community to trash their house. This was a friends and family only thing.

‘Whatever,’ Dean said with a shrug, throwing a perfectly good slice of pie back into the fridge because, seriously, who would ever throw out pie? ‘Tell me some stories about drunken college parties or get the hell out of my kitchen.'

‘You know, college isn’t really like a college movie.’

‘That’s it, get out,’ Dean said, gesturing through to the lounge. Kevin shrugged and went, leaving Dean with a nearly empty fridge and a load of spoilt food to bag.

***

Charlie poked her nose into the kitchen an hour later and the first thing she did was head to the fridge. 'Dean, the only thing in here now is a slice of pie,' she said.

'Hey, it's clean, isn't it?' Dean had retrieved the one beer that had managed to get lost in the back of the hell-fridge, behind all the seventeen-week-old lo mein, and was sitting at the kitchen table contemplating a job well done. 'Plus don't we have to go pick up some new food for this party? Unless you're hiding a live turkey somewhere out on the lot and you're planning on a good old fashioned slaughterin' to start the festivities.'

'Well, it is a ritual sacrifice with pie,' Charlie mused. Dean thought they'd agreed they weren't allowed to make Buffy references in the house, but he let it slide. 'Yeah, we should probably take a drive later. With Kevin.' There was a gleam in her eye that Dean recognised all too well.

'No good, I tried,' Dean said. 'No stories, no drunkenness. Probably spent the entire semester under a pile of books.'

'There'll be _something_ ,' Charlie said, sitting down and propping her chin on her hand. 'There always is. Maybe he met a hot TA but he's too shy to tell us.'

'Or maybe he's remembering the last time you two tried to wingman for him and would rather stick his foot in a meat-grinder then let you anywhere near his love-life,' Sam said, wandering in and stealing Dean's beer. 'And I can't say I blame him.'

'Just because you live the life of an extra-boring monk doesn't mean Kevin has to,' Dean pointed out, snatching the beer back. 'Dude, _Garth_ gets more play than you do.'

'Garth has no shame,' Sam said, shrugging. 'And no standards.'

'Plus, he gives awesome hugs,' Charlie added. Off their looks, she said, 'What? Sometimes people like casual human contact. Not you two, obviously, but like, human people. I'm just saying, could be a connection there.'

'I don't live the life of a monk,' Sam fired back at Dean, rather than continue the discussion of Garth's ... methods. Good man. Sensible priorities. 'I just don't tell you all the gory details.'

'So there _are_ gory details,' Charlie said, leaning forward. 'Come on Chewie, spill the beans.'

'This house is way too full of gory details.' Kevin was standing in the doorway. 'Garth says that rakshasa hunt is underway, so Dean can stop worrying about it, and he's gone out to 'get something' but he said it wasn't the food. So yeah, we should probably do that at some point.'

‘Some point soon,’ Charlie agreed. Whatever. They didn’t want his slice of pie, Dean wasn’t going to complain.

‘Like, now?’ he said, standing up. It was probably for the best. If he didn’t take them shopping they’d just fill the fridge up with take away again and he’d only just got through cleaning that.

‘Shotgun,’ Charlie shouted. Kevin looked like he’d try to argue the point for a second but his expression quickly settled into acceptance. It was an argument they’d had a million times before and Charlie always won.

‘You coming, Sam?” Kevin asked instead, looking for an ally.

‘I guess,’ Sam replied. ‘So long as you guys stop questioning me about my personal life’.

‘Sam, the walls are like tissue paper, you don’t have a personal life,’ Charlie replied. ‘Unless when you say you’ve got DIY jobs in town you actually mean something else.’

‘It is a standard of the genre,’ Dean agreed, dropping his bottle in the recycling and grabbing the car keys. ‘Handyman coming around to do a few.’

‘Didn’t we agree that you two weren’t allowed to watch porn together?’ Sam asked, giving them a disgusted look. Dean shrugged and Charlie grinned.

‘Is it Mrs Jones? I bet she does the kinky stuff. It’s always the quiet ones.’

‘God no,’ Sam replied, wrinkling his nose. ‘She’s like seventy, I fixed her guttering. Don’t make me regret agreeing to go shopping with you before we’ve even got in the car.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ Dean said, walking past them and out the door. He ignored the rush to catch up, running through the list of Sam’s other clients in his head. Though they still needed to work on Kevin too. He was a good kid but, well, it was college and he’d had Dean and Charlie as coaches for at least some of his pivotal years. He’d better be doing something with his life other than studying.

By mutual agreement they waited until they were on the road and nobody could run before starting the attack.

‘So,’ Charlie said with all her usual finesse. ‘Any college stories you want to share with the class, Kevin?’

‘Weren’t we talking about Sam’s sex life?’ Kevin asked, shrinking down in his seat. Sam looked vaguely scandalised that Kevin had just tried to throw him under the bus.

'We've got all of time to work on Sam,' Dean pointed out. 'Plus personally I am not that interested in whether or not he's got the run of the Sioux Falls elderly lady population. But you, my man, are a different story.'

'College. Frat parties. Tequila shots off people's nipples,' Charlie said. 'Some or all of these things have to be happening to you, Kevin. Spill.'

'Seriously, guys, college is not like the movies make it out to be,' Kevin protested. 'I'm there to study.'

'He's right,' Sam agreed. 'Some of us actually care about more than drinking and getting laid.'

Dean raised his eyebrow at Sam in the rearview mirror. 'You met a girl at college, Sam, and she wasn't just your study-buddy. So quit with the studious and innocent act and set a better example for your mini-me.'

Sam pulled a bitchface and shut up. Kevin rolled his eyes. 'Even if there is a girl, it's none of you guys' business!'

Jackpot.

'What's her name?' Charlie demanded. 'Are you using protection? Does she like Star Wars?' She leaned back over the front seat to interrogate Kevin better. 'Has she met your mother?'

Kevin turned to look out the window and refused to say anything else. 'Oh come on, Kevin, don't be like that,' Dean tried. 'You should have brought her back for the holidays!'

There was a quiet flapping noise like someone shaking out a clean sheet, and then - 'Brought who back for the holidays?'

Even after all these years, Dean still had to fight with the wheel for a second to avoid driving his baby into a ditch. When he had himself under control he looked back in his mirrors. Cas was sitting in between Sam and Kevin and looking from one to the other with some concern. 'Resurrecting loved ones is inappropriate, even for 'the holiday season',' he added.

‘Not that kind of bringing back,’ Sam replied, fighting a smile. ‘Did you get Garth’s invitation?’

‘Yes,’ Cas confirmed. ‘I am not sure I see the relevance of this celebration but it was made clear to me that my attendance was desired.’

‘World didn’t end, seems like a relevant celebration to me,’ Dean said. ‘And if we don’t celebrate it then who will?’

‘It’ll be good to have you around too, Cas,’ Charlie said. ‘Dean’s going to enjoy seeing a lot more of you.’

‘Of course,’ Cas agreed. ‘We’re friends.’ Dean was, all in all, pretty thankful that Can missed out on a lot of the subtext of their conversations. Especially when Charlie was about. She had certain ideas and maybe they weren’t entirely different from the truth but he wasn’t about to admit that. Sure, sometimes she was so blatant about thinking he and Cas should screw that even Cas couldn’t avoid noticing but most of the time it went over his head and didn’t make things even worse.

‘Friends,’ Charlie agreed. ‘Kevin’s probably just friends with this college girl too, right Kevin?’

‘I hate you all,’ Kevin replied, slumping in his seat. ‘ I mean, seriously, hate you.’

‘Did you two ever think that if you laid off a bit, Kevin might come home more often?’ Sam asked.

‘He loves it really,’ Charlie protested. ‘We only want to know because we care! You don’t interfere in the lives of people you don’t care about, right Dean?’

Dean just grunted, not willing to admit to the caring part out loud. Part of Charlie’s ongoing campaign was to get him talking about his emotions and while he was now willing to talk shit through sometimes, he wasn’t exactly handing out the hugs and puppies. They had Garth for that.

‘You’re all emotionally constipated,’ Charlie said with a sigh, sliding down in the front seat to pout. Sam looked like he was going to argue the point for a second, looked around him, and gave up with a shrug.

‘So,’ he redirected valiantly, ‘What are we shopping for exactly?’

‘Holiday dinner,’ Charlie insisted. ‘With all the trimmings.’

‘I am not sure what one would consider traditional for the apocalypse,’ Cas added. ‘Though I suspect it should involve copious amounts of alcohol.’

‘That’s a given,’ Dean replied with a grin. He may not have had many holidays but he knew the best thing about them was the drinking.

'This is why I don't do the keg party thing at college,' Kevin pointed out. 'College is where you're supposed to get away from your family's stupid idiosyncracies. So, I don't get hammered, I don't go out looking to pick up chicks, and absolutely no hunting, tablets or destiny. I get enough of that with you guys.'

'So what you're saying,' said Charlie, peering back over the back seat again, 'is that if you spent more holidays with your mom then when you did eventually come visit us you'd have drunken orgy stories?'

'Dude, my mom could outdrink you in a heartbeat,' Kevin said. 'My mom is badass. And terrifying. I'm just an innocent nerd, and you should all leave me out of this shit.'

'You are a Prophet of the Lord,' Cas corrected him. 'There's nothing you should be 'left out of'.'

'Listen to the guy, Kevin, he's wise,' Dean said. 'Get involved with life. And orgies.'

'So, Kevin, what classes are you taking this semester?' Sam asked loudly.

‘Don’t bother,’ Charlie interrupted. ‘We’re here.’

Dean had never seen anyone look so pleased to see a parking lot as Kevin did right then. It almost made him feel guilty for a second but, hey, he knew what he was signing up for when he came home. They’d always been the same. He was the kind of surrogate kid brother none of them had wanted, he had to put up with this crap.

‘Alright,’ he said, swinging in to the first empty parking space he saw. ‘I think we all know I hate these places so we’re having a plan. Sam and Kevin, you can go talk about classes or whatever while you buy us some vegetables and fruit or whatever other healthy crap you want. Charlie, you take the meat and the snacks. Me and Cas’ll snag some dessert and drinks.’

‘Please get at least a few things that aren’t alcohol,’ Kevin said. Dean just grinned and pulled his door open, getting out of the car before Charlie could think to comment that he’d paired himself with Cas. It didn’t mean anything, after all. He wasn’t going to send Cas off with Charlie and he didn’t think it would take three people to buy rabbit food.

‘Get some dessert that isn’t pie,’ Charlie threatened, climbing out after him. ‘I mean it. Like, a cake or something.’

‘You know, sometimes I don’t even know why we’re friends,’ Dean said, waiting until they were all out and locking up his baby. Sam and Kevin set off right away, almost as though they were afraid to be seen with them, but Charlie hung back to walk in with him and Cas.

‘You know,’ he said, leading them towards the door. ‘I bet I know just how to get Kevin talking. I mean, other than alcohol. We need to get Mama Tran on it.’

‘That’s just cruel and unusual,’ Charlie said, ‘I like it.’

‘Mrs Tran is a good person,’ Cas said, forehead wrinkling. ‘I do not see why her presence would cause Kevin to talk.’

‘That’s because you’ve never had her try to get information out of you,’ Charlie said with a grin. Dean nodded. It sounded like a good plan to him. They could work on the details later.

As they headed into the store, Charlie punched Dean in the shoulder and said, 'Remember! Dessert that isn't pie!'

'Sure thing!' Dean said, lying through his teeth. Charlie gave him a Look that said she saw right through him. She also gave him a secondary Look with eyebrow waggling in Cas's direction that Dean decided he was not going to translate. 'Come on, Cas, let's go.'

***

By the time they'd all made it back out to the Impala, it seemed like maybe Sam had managed to get Kevin to finally open up. Dean would normally deny that Sam was better at him than anything, but frankly his ability to play 'kind, understanding cop who sympathises with your pain' had been a godsend on too many hunts to count, so maybe it wasn't that surprising.

'What's her name?' Sam was saying, leaning against the car and half-grinning at Kevin, who had his back to Dean, Charlie and Cas as they walked up. Sam looked up and saw the rest of them coming, and glared.

'Hang back, guys, hang back,' muttered Dean, catching Sam's meaning. 'He's going in for the kill.' He then had to clamp a hand over Cas's mouth before the angel could say anything.

'Leticia,' said Kevin. 'She's pre-law.'

Sam's eyes lit up even further.

Charlie broke the moment by spotting the contents of Dean's carrier bag. 'I said something that _isn't_ pie, Winchester,' she said.

'I got a raspberry tart too, doesn't that count?' Dean asked, holding the bag more tightly so she couldn't get at it. 'I bet you just bought that turkey and a tonne of Doritos, didn't you.'

'You're gonna want Doritos at three am,' Charlie shot back. 'When you're getting your ass handed to you at Left4Dead. Please tell me there's some Red Bull in the bag of drinks and not just -'

'Whoa, hey, ceasefire,' Sam said, holding his hands up in a peace gesture. 'Plus, Garth is gonna leave you both in his dust at Left4Dead,' he added.

Dean's eyes narrowed. 'Everyone just get in the car,' he growled. 'We'll sort it out when we get home.'

'I could have gone to see my Mom,' Kevin mused wistfully. 'I could have been interrogated about my grades. We could have had a barbeque. With wine.'

'Instead you get turkey coma, Olympic-grade embarrassment, zombie killing, and hooch,' said Sam. 'Welcome home, kiddo.'

***

Sam was outside rigging up some lights. When Benny rolled in space was going to get a little tight and Charlie had suggested setting up the outside for socialising after dinner. It had seemed like a good plan so now Sam was working on it and Dean was watching him through the kitchen window as he washed the dishes.

They were in that odd lull in the evening when everyone was full of food. Charlie was reading in the study, Garth had disappeared off into his room and actually shut the door for once which was weird in itself. Dean had only decided to do the dishes because if he didn’t Charlie would give him hell for it tomorrow when they were trying to make the dinner. Since she was the only one who’d ever really made a meal like this before she was nominally in charge, though he knew Sammy had been looking up recipes.

He didn’t look around when he heard footsteps coming into the kitchen; there was only one person it would be.

‘Hello Dean,’ Cas said, like he hadn’t been here for a few hours now.

‘Hey Cas,’ Dean said, turning to look at him. ‘You know, you don’t have to stick around if you’ve got important places to be. I get that remembering the apocalypse might not exactly be a good thing for you.’

‘There is nowhere more important I should be,’ Cas said, moving next to Dean to look out of the window.

‘I guess this’ll be your first real holiday, right? Did you do this kind of thing in Heaven?’

‘In Heaven every day was a day which was used to celebrate the wonder of creation. However, we did not celebrate like this, by bringing together family, sharing food, remembering times gone by. This is all new to me.’

‘Me too, pretty much,’ Dean agreed. He leant over slightly, bumping his shoulder against Cas’s. ‘I mean, this was never the kind of thing we did when we were kids. Though I don’t think this thing is going to be too much like any holiday that’s gone before. Hunters have a way of making things their own.’

‘You do,’ Cas nodded, leaning against Dean slightly. Dean hid his smile, letting his hands rest in the hot water and Cas rest against him. He was really damn glad nobody was here to see this.

‘You should try hunting with us again,’ he said. ‘I mean, things have changed a lot since the last time you tried.’

‘I do not believe my people skills have improved. You always told me they held me back. Besides, I have important work, though I do wish we could spend more time in each other’s company.’

‘You and me both,’ Dean admitted. ‘You do know you can just drop in here any time you want? I know we’re all crazy but you’d be welcome.’

‘Thank you,’ Cas replied, and Dean wished he could read enough in to Cas’s tone of voice to know if he meant thank you, he’d turn up more often, or thanks but no thanks. They was a time he’d thought he could read Cas pretty well but he knew that a lot of that had been naivety. He had a grasp on a few things, now. He probably knew Cas better than anyone, but still sometimes he was just so...difficult.

Or maybe a challenge. And Dean had always enjoyed a challenge.

He needed to stop listening to Charlie’s theories on their relationship, they were starting to sink in.

'Alright, bitches -' said Charlie, speaking of the Devil, bursting into the kitchen and freezing in her tracks. '- uh, I mean, you saw nothing. I saw nothing. I wasn't here.' Out in the lounge, the sound of the Xbox turning on was audible and Garth was cackling over something.

Dean and Cas stared at Charlie. Charlie stared back, and inched her way back out of the kitchen.

'That was odd,' said Cas.

'Yeah, definitely,' said Dean, finishing up the last plate and pulling the plug on the sink. He needed to get a dishcloth and dry his hands, but he kind of didn't want to move. Cas took the decision away from him though by going over to the fridge.

'I am assuming it would be considered polite for us to bring a round of drinks out there?' he asked, peering into the gleaming, spotless depths of the appliance and pulling out bottles of beer and Charlie's preferred can of Red Bull.

'Might get us some brownie points, yeah.' Dean scrambled in a drawer for a bottle opener. 'Come on, let's go face the music.'

He let Cas lead the way into the lounge. Following him in, Dean saw Sam, Kevin, Garth and Charlie all twisting around to look at him and Cas over the back of the sofa. Their poker faces were awful.

Dean mentally smacked himself in the forehead, and deliberately took the chair on the opposite side of the room from the one Cas had sat down in. 'Alright, you chuckleheads, what are we playing and who's my cannon-fodder?'

***

‘Crap, Garth, how do you even do that?’ Dean growled, throwing his controller on the floor. Garth was too busy doing some kind of victory dance to reply. Sam had gone to bed an hour ago and Kevin looked like he was about to fall asleep in his seat.

Dean glanced down at his watch. It wasn’t even that late. Maybe Kevin really was telling the truth about what he got up to at college. It would be typical. Send the kid to college and all he did was study.

‘You know,’ Charlie said, reaching out to sang Dean’s discarded controller. ‘I’m starting to think we should pick up a different game.’

‘Oh, no way,’ Garth cried. ‘This is the only game I beat you on, we are playing this forever.’

‘I’m just saying we shouldn’t shut ourselves off from the wide range of games out there,’ Charlie said, watching Garth flip through the menus. ‘Maybe there’s another game out there you’re a master of?’

‘I’m a master of all games,’ Garth protested, changing his tune. ‘You guys just don’t appreciate getting Garthed.’

‘No, we do not,’ Dean replied, shoving up out of the chair. ‘And I for one have been Garthed enough for one night.’

‘Watch it, you’re turning into an old man,’ Charlie grinned. ‘Want to tell us how much better games were in your day?’

‘Screw you,’ Dean said, stretching. One of these says he was going to buy a more comfortable chair for in here, though if he did he doubted he’d ever get to sit on it.

‘I think Dean has a point,’ Garth said, rolling off the couch. ‘Tomorrow’s a big day, gotta get some rest in.’

‘You’re just afraid I’m going to beat you next time,’ Charlie said, though she dropped the controller. ‘Well, I guess if you’re going to bed we’ll just have to leave it here.’

‘You know, I could play one more game,’ Garth said. Charlie winced and Dean took the opportunity to duck outside for a little fresh air. Cas followed a few seconds later.

‘They are playing one more game,’ Cas announced, like Dean hadn’t watched Charlie talk herself into that corner.

‘You should join in with the games, you know. I think you’d enjoy it.’

‘I enjoy watching you play,’ Cas said with a shrug, as if that was a perfectly normal thing for one guy to say to another at ass-o’clock in the morning after an evening of drinking. ‘I do not believe participating myself would hold the same appeal.’

‘Hey, whatever,’ Dean said, shrugging. He’d kind of like Cas to join in more. Maybe if he did then he’d come round visiting more. That could only be a good thing. For everyone, not just him. Everyone liked Cas. ‘You gonna rest here tonight? The guest room’s made up and you’re the only guest.’

‘I believe it would be better if I returned to my duty for the evening,’ Cas replied. ‘I will return in the morning for the festivities.’

‘You make sure you do,’ Dean said, trying to sound gruff. Cas just smiled at him and then he was gone, letting Dean see past here he’d been to the door where Garth and Charlie were peeking out at them.

‘Get lost,’ he growled, going over and slamming the door on them. He stood on the porch until the sound of them gossiping in the hallway faded as they headed for bed.

Eventually Dean figured everyone else must have gone to sleep, the place was so quiet, so he locked the door behind him and headed upstairs. The sound of Sam snoring in the bedroom next door was enough to set him yawning - even after all the time they'd lived here, it was still weird to have a room to himself. Being able to hear Sam, know where he was, helped. Except for in certain very specific and, now, quite infrequent circumstances, thank God for paper-thin walls or Dean'd be lying there every night unable to get to sleep for worrying.

He stripped to his boxers and collapsed on the mattress, hand finding the hilt of the Bowie knife that lived under the pillow on autopilot.

Even hearing Sam through the wall, the room was too quiet, too empty. He blamed it on having Cas around again. Maybe the good old days weren't that good, really, but nostalgia still bit occasionally.

He yawned, scrunched himself up into a tighter curl and pulled the quilt across his middle, telling himself to man the fuck up. Cas came to celebrate the Not Apocalypse. Not to have a slumber party with you, Dean, for Christ's sake.

As he started to drift into sleep, he thought he heard a dog barking.

***

They got out Sam's cookbooks, for all the good it would do. Charlie shooed everyone else out of the kitchen and waited until Dean was up to his elbows in breadcrumbs, raw egg, and a turkey's ass before she pounced.

'I cannot believe you,' she said, mutilating an onion with vengeance. 'The guest room? Really, Dean?'

Dean rolled his eyes. 'That's where the guests sleep,' he pointed out. 'Did you seriously volunteer me to go all Hannibal Lecter on this bird just so you could start this up again?'

'It's not like anyone else is any better at cooking,' she said. 'And I have to trap you, dude, otherwise you run away and then how am I supposed to give you my unjudging wisdom and guidance?'

'How are you, of all people, qualified to give me the Talk about Boys?' Dean demanded, and scrambled for another handful of stuffing. 'And are you sure this isn't a pagan ritual? It's gross enough.'

'That is going to be a delicious meal in a few hours,' Charlie said stoutly. 'And anyway, I'm only giving you the Talk about Boys you tried giving _me_ the first time we met. So, you shown Cas your tattoo yet?' She smirked at him, and crumbled her chopped onion into the stuffing pan.

'Are you serious?'

'Tattoos are always sexy.'

'I hate you.'

'You love me, bitch. And you love your stupid feathery-assed angel boyfriend too, so will you just ask him to stay the night already before I lock you both in the panic room with a lifetime's supply of lube?'

'Oh my God, I did not need to hear that,' said Sam, standing in the doorway. 'This is like that time with the twins during your deal year all over again.'

Dean got his hands out of the turkey with as much dignity as he could muster, which wasn't much. 'Yeah, well, if you can get her to shut up about it you'll be doing better than I am, little bro.' Sam looked like he was in here for a specific reason, not just because he subconsciously wanted to be traumatised, so Dean added, 'What's up?'

Sam scowled a little, although he looked like he was trying not to. 'Benny's here.'

‘Great,’ Dean said, extracting himself from the turkey. Charlie give him a look which clearly meant they were not done with this conversation yet. He just shrugged, stopped to rinse his hands and then followed Sam out to meet Benny.

Benny was outside, waiting by his car, and Dean walked up to pull him in for a quick hug.

‘Benny, how’ve you been keeping?’

‘Can’t complain, brother. Living the quiet life still.’

‘Good for you,’ Dean said, gripping Benny’s shoulder. ‘Wasn’t sure you’d join us for something like this.’

‘How could I refuse?’ Benny said with a lazy smile. ‘The reason for the feast aside, it’s been too long since I’ve seen your face. Worth the trip to have a chance to properly catch up.’

‘I do appreciate it. Come on in. We’ve changed things around a bit since the last time you were here. Sam keeps building. Cas should be down in a while too, then I think that’s everyone.’

‘The old Purgatory gang back together, that will be something to see,’ Benny said with a lazy grin. ‘Got somewhere in this house for me to sleep?’

‘Guest bedroom, up the stairs and first on the left. I’ll be in the kitchen when you’re settled in.’

‘Thanks, brother,’ Benny said, turning back to the car to get his bag. Dean turned back to the house to find Charlie standing in the door, eyebrow raised.

‘What?’ he asked, stepping closer.

‘I can’t believe you hugged him is all. I thought you were allergic to touch.’

‘Yeah, hilarious,’ Dean said with a sigh. ‘Let’s get back to the kitchen or nobody’s going to be eating anything today.’

There was a suspicious smell coming from the kitchen when Dean and Charlie went inside, and suddenly Kevin appeared, looking flustered. 'Guys, we need a little help here. All hands on deck!'

Sam and Garth were in the kitchen, literally putting out a fire. 'The hell did you turn the oven all the way up for, Dean?' Sam demanded when he noticed the new arrivals. 'It's like a turkey Baked Alaska in there - crispy on the outside and raw on the inside.'

'Ew,' said Charlie helpfully. 'Gross.'

'Just … turn it down or something,' Dean said, shrugging. 'I guess the potatoes should probably go in too?'

'We might need to peel them, then,' said Garth. 'Or wash them at least.'

'Don't we need to boil vegetables, too?' Kevin asked. 'And, like, gravy or sauce or something? Didn't we have a plan?'

'Yeah, the plan was 'make dinner',' Dean growled.

'We're all going to die,' said Kevin faintly. But he rolled up his sleeves, and went for the potato sack anyway.

Fifteen minutes later, there was a small mountain of peeled potatoes on the benchtop, Charlie was stirring a pot of something she was adamant was gravy (and wearing a fair amount of it too), Sam was trying to cover the hot turkey and turkey pan in foil, because that's what one of his crazy cookbooks told him to do, and Dean was still sure he was hearing barking. He shook his head, hoping it was just his tinnitus playing up.

Garth, holding a pot of carrots, tipped his head to one side like he could hear it too.

Before Dean could say anything, the barking got _really_ loud and there was a clattering noise out in the hallway.

'Oh, crap,' said Garth, just before whatever it was out there barrelled through the door.

As the door slammed open a few things happened. Charlie jumped, knocking her pot of ‘gravy’ over the counter and over Garth who immediately started cursing up a storm. Sam, acting on instinct, grabbed the knife he’d been using to check the turkey and brandished it. Kevin stepped into a defensive stance and when he had time to process later Dean was going to be damn proud of that but for now he dodged around the table to come face to face with their intruder.

The puppy had to be the most pitiful thing he’d ever seen. It was small enough to curl up in someone’s lap, clearly a mongrel with its mismatched ears and gigantic paws. It tried backing away but ran into the door, let out a little whimper, and peed itself.

‘Shit,’ Dean said, stepping back quickly. The puddle spread on the linoleum and before he could stop himself Sam stepped on it and slipped, crashing down on the floor and sending the puppy scampering to the corner.

Dean made a grab for the animal, hoping to contain the damage, and the damn thing nearly bit him in panic. As he yanked his hand back the kitchen door was suddenly pulled open and the dog bolted round the feet of a stunned looking Mrs Tran.

‘Mom?’ Kevin said, looking more shocked about that then he had about the dog pee.

‘What on earth is going on here?’ Mrs. Tran asked, ignoring Kevin for now in favour of looking around the room and taking it in. Charlie was trying desperately to mop up her mess, Garth had ripped off his shirt. Sam was lying in the dog pee and he seemed to have taken down a load of veg with him as that was now strewn across the floor. The turkey was half out of the oven, looking as though it was going to fall any second.

‘Alright,’ she said in a tone even Dean knew he wouldn’t be able to argue with. ‘All of you out of here, now.’

Kevin managed to make it out of the door first but Dean was a close second. He stepped back, clearing the way for Charlie and Garth, who was still clutching his shirt in his hands, and finally Sam, who just looked shell shocked.

‘What just happened?’ Kevin hissed, moving in behind Dean. ‘Did we make so much of a mess we summoned her?’

‘Dude, no,’ Garth said, dropping his shirt on the floor by the desk. ‘I invited her. Of course I invited you mom to Apocalypsemas!’

‘Just what in Hell is going on down here?’ Dean turned to find Benny coming down the stairs, a confused look on his face. ‘I thought you all were cooking but it doesn’t sound like it.’

‘We hit a small technical snag,’ Dean said with a shrug. Sure, that might not be the best way to describe it but it’d do. ‘Then Kevin’s mom threw us all out of the kitchen.’

‘Yeah, turns out this cooking a big family dinner thing is harder than we anticipated, go figure,’ Charlie supplied with a shrug.

Benny stepped off the stairs, allowing Sam to slip up past him, and made his way to the kitchen. He opened the door, raised an eyebrow, then closed it again.

‘In what universe do you call that cooking?’

‘I’ve seen worse,’ Garth said with a shrug. Benny rolled his eyes.

‘Look, you guys go sort yourself out. Me and Kevin’s mom will sort out this mess, then we can try this again. Don’t go too far.’ Apparently Benny had a Dad Voice. Dean could feel himself almost snapping to attention

Before any of them could argue Benny slipped into the kitchen, greeting Mrs Tran and slamming the door. For a second there was silence as the rest of them looked at each other, assessing what the hell was going on.

‘Ok, so, who’s going to own up to the puppy?’ Kevin asked.

Garth wadded up his gravy-sodden shirt and shrugged at them. 'It's for Sam,' he said.

'You bought Sam a puppy,' Dean asked, squinting at him. 'For Apocalypsemas.'

'Actually I traded a curse box for the puppy,' Garth corrected him. 'And a fifth of whiskey.'

Sam, with a new set of clothes on and the puppy basically dangling from one enormous hand, came down the stairs looking plaintive. 'You couldn't have just given me the fifth of whiskey?' he asked. 'I probably wouldn't have got that all down my pants, Garth.' The puppy peered upwards and gave him a very sorry look, paws dangling helplessly and middle entirely engulfed in Sam's palm.

Charlie's eyes were the size of saucers. 'Don't be mad, the puppy probably thought you were a tree,' she pointed out. 'It wouldn't be the first time, would it?'

'It means he likes you!' Garth said. 'It's adorable. You're both adorable.'

Sam looked down at the puppy. The puppy looked up at Sam. Even Dean was having trouble thinking manly thoughts at the sight.

'Fine,' said Sam eventually, sounding a lot mellower than he probably meant to. Maybe the puppy was magic. 'We'll talk the logistics out over dinner.'

'Excellent. I'll go get a new shirt,' said Garth.

'Right, I think we're ready for you now,' said Mrs Tran, poking her head around the door with a forbidding look. 'Go wash your hands, then come in in single file. You'll be assigned tasks.'

'Mom -' Kevin tried.

'This dinner is going to happen on time and be edible,' said Mrs Tran. 'If that means I have to treat it like a full-scale military operation, so be it.'

'We're the Apocalypsemas redshirts,' Charlie hissed at Dean as they headed to the downstairs bathroom. 'We're going to be sacrificed for the good of the mission!'

'I knew this whole thing felt familiar,' Dean muttered, rolling up his sleeves.

***

Dean had to admit the spread looked good. He didn’t even know they had the ingredients to make some of this stuff so it was almost definitely better than anything they’d have been able to produce without intervention, though he was still kind of annoyed that he’d spent his day being ordered around like a kid.

Mrs Tran had even ordered around Cas when he’d finally appeared, which had been kind of hilarious to watch as she clearly didn’t mind that he was an angel of the lord, and he clearly didn't mind being given orders. Cas had actually got really intense about vegetable peeling but he was really intense about a lot of things so maybe that shouldn’t have been a surprise.

‘See, this is a lot better,’ Mrs Tran proclaimed from where she’d claimed the head of the table. ‘Do we need to say anything or do we just eat?’

‘I don’t know,’ Dean said with a shrug. ‘I don’t think there’s a particular protocol for celebrating the fact the apocalypse didn’t happen.’

‘Taking time to thank those who prevented the end of days seems a little self-serving,’ Cas said with a frown.

‘At least we’d know we’re thanking the right people,’ Charlie said with a shrug.

‘I think we should just dig in,’ Benny suggested. ‘Wouldn’t want all this delicious looking food to get cold now, would we?’

‘Thank you,’ Mrs Tran said, blushing a little, and Dean definitely didn’t like that they’d bonded over cooking. Mrs Tran was pretty scary on her own, teamed up with Benny she could probably take over the world if she wanted.

‘I had something to say,’ Garth offered, digging in the pockets of his jeans.

‘It’ll wait,’ Charlie interrupted, reaching over him and grabbing the sweet potatoes. For a few minutes the table was engulfed in the sounds of people passing around plates and taking food, coupled with the low whining of the dog that was curled up under Garth’s chair.

‘You now,’ Kevin said, passing the peas over to Benny, ‘We still need to name the dog.’

‘Don’t I get to name it?’ Sam asked, ‘It is my dog, apparently.’

‘Depends what you want to call it,’ Garth said with a lazy shrug. ‘I’ve been calling it pumpkin.’

‘That’s not a dog name,’ Dean argued. ‘It’s gotta have a badass dog name if it’s going to live in this house.’

‘I was just thinking Rover or Fido?’ Sam tried. There was a moment's silence.

‘Alright, Sam doesn’t get to name the dog,’ Charlie said. ‘I agree with Dean that the dog needs an awesome name that will truly reflect the personalities of the people who named it and that’s why I would like to suggest Oz.’

‘No werewolf names,’ Dean said, shaking his head.

‘Also, no real people names,’ Kevin agreed. ‘I’m not walking through the park shouting an actual person name. People will think I’m crazy, or a bad teenage dad or something.’

'What's wrong with Rover or Fido?' Sam asked, forehead crinkling.

'The fact that you have to ask is why you don't get a vote,' Charlie said, patting his hand across the table comfortingly. 'Okay, how about Sirius? Or Padfoot?'

'No witchy names,' Dean vetoed immediately. 'I don't want people thinking our dog goes around spewing bodily fluids everywhere.'

'Plus,' Kevin added, 'I know we're weird but I don't want people thinking we're that weird.'

'We buy salt in ten pound bags every week and everyone in town is convinced Sam's a mob killer on witness protection,' Charlie pointed out. 'Calling the dog 'Sirius' is gonna be a move towards normality at this point. At least normal people have heard of Harry Potter.'

'They think I'm a what?'

'The ones who don't think you're a porn-star,' Dean threw in, just to see the colour Sam turned. 'You might wanna make more polite conversation in the store and brood less, s'all we're saying.'

'Guys, we're getting off-topic,' Kevin pointed out. 'Are there any further suggestions?'

'I believe it is considered appropriate to name pets after honoured comrades and friends,' Cas said, surprising everyone. 'With that in mind I am sure there are many potential names we could consider.'

'No person-names,' Kevin repeated. 'Seriously. I am not going to chase a dog around a park yelling for it like it's my child.'

'Also how about we don't name the dog something that's gonna be traumatic?' Dean said. 'We've got lots of 'honoured comrades and friends' but not a lot of happy memories to go along with them, dude.'

'So, we've got suggestions of 'Oz', 'Fido', 'Rover', 'Sirius,' 'Padfoot',' said Garth, scribbling on a napkin. 'Any actual further suggestions or shall we have a vote?'

'I'm pretty sure every single one of those names has already been nixed,' Benny put in, like he was the only real grownup at the table. 'Just sayin'. I think you need a tiebreak, people.'

Everyone turned, like clockwork, to Mrs Tran.

She finished her mouthful politely, put her knife and fork down, and leaned back so she could peer under Garth's chair at the now-sleeping puppy. Then she looked around the table at its new owners. 'You want a name that's going to be 'awesome',' she said, with a look at Dean. 'And not something you'd call a child -' Kevin nodded emphatically, '- and which somehow fits what you think of as the personality of this household.' Charlie joined in the nodding. 'That poor dog,' Mrs Tran said, mouth twitching like she wanted to laugh. 'Okay, let me see ...'

You could have cut the tension with a knife. The little dog made a snuffling noise in its sleep.

'The dog's name is Killer,' said Mrs Tran decisively. 'Congratulations, Sam. It's a boy.'

***

‘Oh god,’ Charlie moaned over her slice of pie. ‘Why is this so delicious? I can’t physically eat another bite but it’s so delicious.’

‘I’ll finish it if you don’t want it,’ Dean said, reaching over to snag the plate. She stopped him by attacking his hand with a fork and he withdrew quickly, glaring at her. He’d only been trying to help, after all. If she couldn’t eat it he might as well have it.

There was a quick cough and a scrape and he looked down to see an almost full plate of pie pushed up to his place. He glanced over to find Cas watching him intently and grinned.

‘Thanks, man,’ he said, digging in.

‘Oh my god, you two, just get married already,’ Charlie groaned, curling an arm protectively around her pie.

‘It’s just pie,’ Dean grumbled, shovelling another fork full into his mouth. Sam laughed.

‘Wait, can you say that again? I need to record it.’

‘Shut up, Sammy. You know what I mean.’

‘Nothing wrong with two good friends sharing,’ Benny said with a kind of wicked grin on his face. ‘And ain’t you two just the closest of friends?’

‘You, my man, sound like you have a story,’ Garth said, kicking back in his chair.

‘No, no story,’ Benny said grinning. ‘I just know that Cas is a mighty important friend to Dean. When we were in Purgatory he wouldn’t leave without him after all.’

‘Of course I wouldn’t,’ Dean protested. ‘I’d have done that for any of my friends.’

‘Exactly, a very devoted friend. All I heard from him at first was ‘got to find my angel’’.

‘Oh, he’s your angel now, is he?’ Charlie asked, grinning like she’d got away with something. Dean just rolled his eyes. Yeah, he’d looked for Cas in Purgatory. That was just what friends did for each other. There wasn’t anything more in it.

‘I am not Dean’s angel,’ Cas said, looking put out. ‘I do not belong to anyone.’

‘Yeah, see, he’s his own damn angel,’ Dean agreed, finishing the pie. ‘And now I’m done eating, I vote we leave the dishes for tomorrow and break out the beers.’

Beer was broken out (and Garth's fabled bottle of whiskey, and something disgustingly sugary and caffeinated that Charlie necked in about five seconds before reaching for a beer of her own) and they retreated to the lounge.

'It's got to be story time now,' said Garth, slouching on the sofa. 'Come on, Benny. I know you gotta have some juicy material to share, being stuck with my bro here for months.' He patted Dean on the back.

'Did Dean pine?' Charlie wanted to know. 'I bet he pined. I bet he and Cas made cow eyes at each other for months.'

'This is totally not Apocalypse-related,' Dean said, resisting the urge to knock himself out with his own beer bottle. 'Why can't we reminisce about that?'

Sam had settled Killer on his lap and was idly stroking the tiny dog. 'Because who wants to reminisce about that?' he asked. 'And half the people here weren't involved at the time?'

'Yes, but only Dean, Benny and I were in Purgatory,' Cas pointed out. 'It makes even less sense for stories of that to be shared.'

‘Why doesn’t Kevin tell us some of his college stories?’ Dean asked, hoping to derail the conversation. Kevin gave him the dirtiest look but Dean just shrugged. In this house it was everyone for themselves.

‘Yes, Kevin,’ Mrs Tran said, sitting up in her chair. ‘Tell us about college.’

‘I swear all I did was study,’ Kevin protested. ‘Whatever anyone else says is a lie.’

‘You don’t need to panic,’ Garth protested. ‘College is all about finding yourself, after all. I mean, I drank a lot at college and look at me now!’

Mrs Tran gave Kevin a pointed look at that and Kevin sank further into his seat. It made Dean laugh that the kid had faced down Crowley, the King of Hell, but went to pieces where his mother was concerned.

‘I went to college too,’ Charlie supplied. ‘And I can vouch that a healthy mixture of studying and socialising makes for the best college experience.’

‘I swear I didn’t drink anything,’ Kevin said, quickly hiding his beer bottle behind the chair. ‘Weren’t we tormenting Dean? Let’s go back to that?’

‘Let’s not,’ Dean said, shaking his head. ‘How about tormenting Charlie instead. You’ve not brought anyone home in a while?’

‘I will have you know that I am in a committed online relationship,’ Charlie said, sitting up straight. ‘And it’s very fulfilling.’

‘Like hell it is,’ Dean said with a snort. ‘You were complaining just the other day that you needed to get laid more.’

‘Maybe Charlie means emotionally fulfilling,’ Sam suggested. ‘Not everything’s about sex, Dean.’

‘Yeah, Dean,’ Charlie replied, sticking her tongue out. ‘You just don’t understand the deep emotional bond I share with my online girlfriend.’

'Deep and emotional my ass,' Dean snorted. 'You're going through batteries like nobody's business.'

'... things I didn't need to know,' Kevin muttered. 'And you people wonder why I don't come back here more often.'

'I thought computers and the internet ran on mains electricity,' Cas wanted to know, and everyone assumed their best poker faces, with varying results.

'So, Kevin, _are_ you seeing anyone?' Mrs Tran asked, coughing a little. 'I'm your mother, you can tell me.'

'I think I'm gonna go do the dishes.' Kevin got up fast, almost knocking his empty beer bottle over. 'I just want you all to know that this is the most unfair game of 'Truth' ever played.'

Dean turned to Sam and opened his mouth, thinking to move on to the next most entertaining target, but before he could say a damn thing Sam scooped Killer into the crook of his arm and deposited him on Garth, getting up in the process. 'I'll dry,' he said. Or yelped.

Charlie was already pulling her laptop out and booting it up. 'Let's see how my cross-linked databases are going,' she said, half to the computer.

'I have to ask,' Mrs Tran said to Benny, after a moment more of silence, 'What on earth did you put in the glaze on that turkey?'

Benny grinned and launched into something that sounded like a goddamn spell recipe. Dean started to tune out after the first mention of 'reducing the pineapple juice'.

'I think this conversation has ended by mutual non-participation,' Cas said. Somehow he and Dean ended up being the only people left on the sofa as Garth got up to hover over Charlie's shoulder. Killer slid into the space he'd left up against the arm and sighed into a little sleepy puppy ball.

'Yeah, I'm getting that,' Dean said, unwilling to open up the space between them even if there was room to do it. 'You want another beer? It's probably cooler outside, we could give these guys a bit of space to work.'

Charlie gave him an awful, knowing wink over the top of her laptop as he followed Cas out of the room. What was worse was that Mrs Tran looked like she was thinking about doing the same thing.

***

Dean slid down onto the step and waited for Cas to sit beside him. When he did Dean leant over a little, brushing their shoulders together. Cas didn’t respond but it was good, being this close. It didn’t have to mean anything, no matter what Charlie said. Or it didn’t mean anything, anyway. What he wanted it to mean or not didn’t matter.

Not that he wanted it to mean anything.

‘Did you enjoy the meal?’ he asked, shifting back a little. Cas just nodded, staring out across the yard. Dean took another pull of his beer. There were a few cars in various states of repair out. It was weird to see the yard working again. Weirder still to think he had a legitimate business now. Better not to think about it.

‘Does living in this place not make you miss Bobby?’ Cas asked, frowning.

‘Sometimes,’ Dean admitted. ‘I mean, I think about him a lot here. We had good times though. I miss him but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.’

‘Was that the point of today? To remember the good times?’

‘We didn’t really have many with the apocalypse, did we?’ Dean said with a shrug. ‘It was more an excuse to get people together, and to honour the dead. I mean, when Garth suggested it, it just felt like someone should do something. That we should do something to show we haven’t forgotten.’

‘That makes sense,’ Castiel agreed, nodding slowly. ‘It’s fitting to honour the sacrifices of those we cared for.’

‘Yeah, and to celebrate being alive, too. After all, we made it though. It was a close thing a few times there...’

‘We did both die on multiple occasions,’ Cas agreed. ‘Though I am glad that I ultimately survived to be here now with you.’

‘Yeah, this world’s pretty good,’ Dean agreed. ‘Though I’d like it a bit more if you dropped in more often. Don’t let the others scare you off.’

‘That is not the reason I hadn’t been visiting,’ Cas said, folding his hands together in his lap. ‘I thought it best that, now the world isn’t ending and I have a place again, I let you proceed without me. After all, I am not human. You do not need me in your life.’

‘I want you in it, though,’ Dean said, bumping shoulders. ‘And in case you didn’t notice, we take all types around here. You can drop in whenever you want. You’ll always be welcome.’

‘Thank you,’ Cas said, smiling, and if Dean wanted to lean over and kiss him right then it was only because he’d been listening to Charlie too much recently.

Before he could do anything stupid, though, the door to the kitchen opened and Sam stuck his head out, plate of pie in hand.

‘Hey, you want to finish off the leftovers?’ he asked. Dean reached over and snagged the plate.

‘You ever known me to refuse pie?’

‘That’s what I thought,’ Sam said, stepping back into the kitchen and letting the door slam shut behind him. Dean sat down, taking a piece of pie on the fork and savouring it. It was a damn good pie. He cut another piece then, after a second’s hesitation, offered it to Castiel.

‘Thank you,” Cas said, ‘But I do not require sustenance. You should eat it.’

‘It’s not about sustenance,’ Dean said with a grin. ‘It’s about taste, and this is delicious. Come on, have a bite?’

‘Alright,’ Cas said, then leant forward and stole the piece from Dean’s fork.

***

Inside the house, Charlie, Kevin, and Sam were plastered up against the kitchen window.

'Oh my god, that's like some kind of serious mating behaviour right there,' Charlie said, eyes the size of saucers. 'Did you see? Dean offered him pie, and he took it. I feel like there should be a David Attenborough commentary going on.'

'I have dibs on the couch tonight if Cas stays,' Sam said. 'I will sleep on the porch if I have to. I will _drive into the next state_.'

'He's not going to stay,' Kevin said, rolling his eyes. 'Five years for a bite of pie? You'll be old enough to have lost your license by the time they work up to spending the night together.'

'Well someone sounds like he's had a bit of life experience since he went off to college,' Charlie said teasingly. 'Been listening to your big sister's advice, huh?'

'None of that advice was anatomically possible,' Kevin retorted. 'Shut up and watch your nature documentary.'

***

Dean set the empty plate down. Castiel stood, stretching. Dean watched him for a second, wondered what he’d look like if he wasn’t lost in that trench coat. Maybe they could try that sometime. Get him into some jeans and a t-shirt like a normal person.

‘You can stick around, you know,’ he said, shifting to stand himself. ‘I mean, everything’s winding down but you could crash here. We have couches.’

‘I do not require sleep,’ Cas said, frowning. ‘If you wished I could stay and watch over you as you slept?’

‘No, that’s still kind of creepy,’ Dean said with a sigh. He liked the idea of Cas staying around, but, well, he’d never live it down if he let Cas watch over him while he slept. Not that it was the only thing holding him back, there were lots of good reasons. He didn’t need anyone watching him sleep. It was just, lately, when you said goodbye to Cas you never knew when he was coming back again.

‘Anyway, you need to visit more. We miss you.’

‘I will,’ Cas said, earnest expression on his face. ‘I miss you also. If I am welcome here I will endeavor to be here more often.’

‘And we covered you being welcome so that’s all good,’ Dean said. He was starting to almost wish he was the kind to ramble on so he could think of something to say that’d make Cas stay for a while longer, but this was enough of a chick flick moment as it was.

He glanced over to the house. The curtains were drawn and the doors closed. The only light was from the living room, they were alone. He looked at Cas again, met his eye, then stepped forward and pulled him in for a quick hug. He hugged fast and tight, patting Cas’s back as he did then pulling away again. Cas looked at him for a second, confused, and then smiled.

‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘I will see you again shortly. Enjoy the remainder of your holiday.’

‘I will, thanks,’ Dean said, and then he was alone.

***

Dean opened the door to the sound to retreating footsteps and whispers. He should have known it was all too good to be true. He barged in to the study to find the rest of the house sat around, lounging with various degrees of success on the seats. Benny and Mrs Tran looked settled, like they hadn't moved for a while. Charlie looked like she’d thrown herself onto the couch just before he opened the door.

‘So,’ Charlie said, a little out of breath. ‘How did it feel to show some actual human emotion?’

‘Don’t jinx it,’ Kevin stage-whispered. ‘He might never do it again if he knows we saw.’

‘He’s just picking up good habits from me,’ Garth proclaimed. ‘I’m going to make huggers of you all yet.’

‘You can try,’ Sam replied, because despite everything at least he would always be on Dean's side.

‘But, seriously,’ Charlie said, turning to look at Dean. ‘You talked about feelings, shared pie and hugged him goodbye. When’s the wedding and can I be best man?’

‘You guys are hilarious,’ he growled, slamming straight back out of the study and heading up to his room. He heard them laughing behind him.

***

Dean did go back down for a beer in the end, glad to find they’d all moved on to other things by then. By the time he made it to bed that night he'd pretty much decided that he didn't care if they laughed. After all, he laughed himself stupid if Sam ever managed to unclench long enough to try putting the moves on someone, and he'd given Charlie enough shit over her 'serious committed and emotionally mature' online relationship, and as for Kevin and college girls ... He could probably give them the odd crack about Cas and pie. It didn't have to mean anything.

When they all eventually broke up the party, he was feeling a lot better.

He started getting ready for bed, kicking his jeans into the corner of his room and going off to brush his teeth, feeling weird about having felt weird about this. He'd had everyone from motel receptionists to FBI agents mistake him and Sam for a couple in the past and he'd been able to laugh that off.

Washed up, he headed back to his room, flipped the light off, and flopped onto the mattress. The place creaked and shifted as it cooled in the night air, and downstairs he could hear people talking still. He stretched out, shoving his face into the pillow and considering pulling another one on top in an effort to block out the noise.

Something tickled him. He blinked, trying to dislodge it. Probably an eyelash. But it wouldn't go away.

'What the hell?' he asked himself out loud, scrabbling for whatever it was. The softness under his fingers, when he found it, was familiar. Too familiar. He switched on the light.

Twisting in his fingers was a soft, sleek feather.

He smiled, ran the thing through his fingers a few times to feel the softness of it, then placed it back under the pillow. After that it was as though he couldn’t hear the talking downstairs, he drifted straight to sleep. He dreamt only good things that night.


End file.
